2023 TOP 100 ALBUMS

The word Shining has such wonderfully barbaric connotations that it is understandable that not one, but two Scandinavian Black Metal acts have chosen to adopt the moniker.

The Shining, a Norwegian Black Jazz ensemble are no strangers to this very list. However, this is the other Shining. The Swedish one, fronted by controversial motormouth Niklas Kvarforth. Like a Black Metal Mark E Smith, he has been known to start fights with band members and to sabotage their equipment. As you can expect they have had a whole barrel load of members since their inception in 1996 (there are 23 former incumbents by my reckoning and of the current line up all but Peter Huss are class of 2022).

This is album number 11 and they have decided to go old school with an eponymous title. It is certainly the best thing I have heard them do and it's a wonderfully emotive take on melodic Black Metal. It avoids the insular and instead is packed full of big wide-screen moments that feel particularly cinematic. It feels ambitious in scope and adheres to production values usually absent in Black Metal.

Fragile post-black metal from the fen’s of East Anglia. This is a beautiful record that is marinated in misery. It feels introspective and contemplative, subverting Black Metal’s usual malevolent nature. It has harsh moments but then it retreats into its insular solipsism. A brooding soul-searching record that uses Black Metal as a redemptive aid.

Long-standing proponents of Norwegian Melodic Death metal, they hail from Trondheim, deep in the frozen North. This is very much the accessible face of black metal and the melodies and hum along choruses are plentiful. It is a buoyant album that bounces along with an enthusiastic level of vim and vigour. If you have never listened to a black metal album before, this is a good place to start.

Unlike the previous entry, if you have not listened to Black Metal before then this is not a good place to start. A euphorically impenetrable record that delights in being inaccessible. The sound loops over and over as Haela Hunt-Hendrix screams over the whole thing. It is a difficult album and not for the faint-hearted, but it has a hypnotic redemptive quality, like you are being reborn in its primordial ooze.

I know what you thought when you woke this morning, “there aren’t enough elaborate rock operas based on the Old Testament tale of Joseph and his technicolor thing-me-jig.” Well former Spock’s Beard mainman and prog rocks favourite born-again Christian must have heard you as he has found a space in his busy diary to produce a prog rock re-telling of the well-known tale. For all my cynicism it's actually really good and packed full of whistleable tunes. It's completely unnecessary but I found it a highly enjoyable listen. 

Ridiculous album that makes Motley Crue look like Radiohead. It's puerile, juvenile and revels in its patriarchal glory. It takes The Dirt as a road manual for success. It is also brim full of youthful zeal and feels utterly genuine in its glorified debauchery. It is the most rock n roll album I have heard in years and whilst the tofu-munching wokerati in me is dismayed by it, it has a magnetic pull that makes its self-confessed filth rather alluring. 

First slice of death metal on the list (though not the last) and if we are going to do Death Metal, let's do the utter grandaddy of the scene, Cannibal Corpse. 35 years into their career they show no sign of slowing down or growing old gracefully. This is another slice of high-octane nastiness. Full of revolting rhymes and gnarly riffs. This is also a technically superb record as you cannot be this nihilistically heavy without having virtuoso abilities. 

Slick Commercial metalcore from Australia, I usually hate this sort of stuff, finding it vacuous and lacking in credibility. This however is really well done. There is a sharp, insightful level of songwriting at play here and they have managed to avoid the urge to over-polish. 

I know, I know, I know. I have regularly sneered at the Foo Fighters and called them Rock music for people who don’t like Rock Music. However, this is a mature and self-aware record that is not afraid to show its wounds. It is their first post Taylor Hawkins release and as such this is an emotionally raw release that is happy to wallow in its grief.

But it is not maudlin, instead, it looks for hope in the heartbreak. Frank, honest, fragile and beautifully rendered, by airing their insecurities the Foo Fighters manage to create an exemplary treaty on loss.

More muscular death metal from another long-running outfit. Kataklysm do what they do well and whilst Goliath brings nothing new to the table, it manages to make a remarkably enjoyable cacophony of righteous noise. It has an epic, anthemic feel and the tracks glean with polished perfection. 

Exquisite experimental black metal from the prolific French outfit. They seem to dispense a new album each and every year and the quality never drops. This is an almost transcendental journey into sensory overload. Everything sounds off-kilter and disorientingly out of synch. It is as fascinating as it is difficult, and the overall experience is emotionally exhausting but also soulfully fulfilling. 

Those who follow my adventures in music journalism will be surprised to see this lot here. You see I gave the new incarnation of this once-revered Dutch act a bit of kicking. I went as far as describing new vocalist Diana Leah as a pound shop version of the previous incumbent.

The band didn’t take too kindly and decided to share my barbed words to their fevered followers who in turn took it in turns to mercilessly condemn my hatchet job. I stand by the review because they relied too much on regurgitating material associated with the previous vocalist. What they should have done is played much much more from this, the first album from the almost entirely new version of the band, as it is really rather good. 

The trick here is not to view this as a new Delain album, where it then has all the baggage of living up to their rather prestigious legacy. Instead, view this as a symphonic metal album by a band who happen to also be called Delain. If you do the latter, it is actually a really well-done and sumptuous feast of deliciously luxurious musical morsels. I stand by my summation of a current run of shows, but I also stand by the fact that I really like the new music they are creating, I just wanted them to rely much more heavily on it.

There will be a smattering of non-metal/rock releases on the list, and this is the first of them. A highly inventive album from a highly inventive band. Whilst they are still heavily reminiscent of Massive Attack, they have quite effectively managed to carve their own distinctive sound. It is a modern interpretation of trip-hop embracing indie sensibilities and an almost lethargic approach to rapping. 

Interesting can be used as faint praise, but it is exactly what this album is, interesting. It is absolutely brim full of ideas and it steadfastly refuses to adhere to anything as vulgar as convention. The delivery is minimal and restrained and as such the album never explodes into life and I’m clear that is very much the intent. Instead, it slouches through its duration content to be intriguing and enticing. Interesting really really interesting. 

A one-man black metal project from Portland, created as a way of interrogating A.L.N’s relationship with God through art. Over four albums it has charted his detachment from his faith and his journey towards a much more secular understanding. 

“Prosaic” in many ways is the conclusion of his endeavours as it sees him face the world as a fully paid-up agnostic, finally freed from the throes of his infinite faith crisis. Rather than get a narrative-driven forensic examination of his current state of mind, we get a much more open examination of the state of the world in general. 

There are moments of righteous anger but in the main, this is an emotionally intelligent album that uses doom-laden black metal as a canvas on which to investigate the injustices that A.L.N sees in front of him. Insightful and thought-provoking.

Uada are masked purveyors of a cosmic variation of black metal. Black metal can usually be very insular and inward-looking. Its distinctive sound is created with down tuned guitars and claustrophobic production. Basically, authentic black metal sounds like it was recorded in a jam jar.

Uada reject the spectre of low production values and instead create a variant of black metal that is big, bold and bright. Instead of hiding away in the shadows it embraces the light. “Crepuscule Natura” is a big album full of big songs. It’s re-purposes black metal’s inherent negativity to create something that feels cinematic and bombastic. Basically, this is black metal built for stadiums.

The third album of satanic doo-wop from the Californian duo. This is as wonderfully retro and malevolently evil as the previous two albums. Alexandra’s voice is still sensual and seductive and hearing her utter satanic filth in such a sultry manner still feels like the last word smut.

I really loved it as I loved the two previous releases. The issue is now there is the beginning of the feeling of diminishing returns because there is nothing new at all being brought to the party. They haven’t refined or changed the sound. It is exactly the same as it was on albums one and two. It’s great but I do get the feeling that they may have to at some point change their tune if there’s is to be any level of longevity about this.

Stripped back black metal from the Icy summits of the Tyrol’s. As we have already seen there is an awful lot of genetic modification going on when it comes to black metal and this seems to be a current penchant for splicing any genre that is going to its demonic majesty. “Pyrogenesis” swerves this particular trend by pruning all the unnecessary bumf and taking black metal back to its malignant nasty core.

It’s a hasty record that has no time to admire the scenery. Instead, it races from track to track like it was recorded on the clock. It’s searing simplicity is equally refreshing and invigorating and it pumps new blood into black metal by the simple virtue of doing the basics incredibly well.

If we were to start to contemplate which are the dominant genres on my lists, then I think it would come down to a tossup between black metal and post-rock/metal. Whilst they are hardly easy bedfellows, I love both with equal vim and vigour. This is the first appearance of the latter.

Night verses have an esteemed pedigree but have been worryingly quiet of late. Thankfully, five years on “From The Gallery Of Sleep” they return with part one of a two instalment epic. Well I say epic, however part one only clocks in at 33 minutes. 

If the second half is of a similar length, well it begs the question why the hell? You see I really really love this album but it seemed to simply stop without reaching a satisfactory conclusion. After just over a measly half an hour of soaring brilliance it just finishes without warning. The point is this is a brilliant collection of seven songs but it would have got an awful lot higher and made me a lot more satisfied if we simply got both parts together in one sitting. I look forward to the abridged version.

ROCKFLESH’s favourite teenage prodigy’s are growing up. There are now four of them and they are eyeing up their 20’s with malicious intent. Their second record signals a massive step up in both quality but also ambition. Their debut, “In Desperation’s Grip” was all about the potential. Basically it was a great record for a bunch of preteens. 

“Rise Of The Lifeless” is a great record no matter the age of the people who have recorded it. They have sussed the great thrash is about crushing anthems brimming with youthful energy. This album is full of them but it also has a mature side that is complex and contemplative. “Rise Of The Lifeless” is an album that really understands its origins and roots but also seeks to take thrash metal forward and it is that audacious appetite to push new frontiers that makes it so exciting.

In retrospect, there are actually quite a few one-person outfits on this list. Sorrowful Lands are a one-man doom outfit from Ukraine. This is a deeply personal album that looks at the environmental apocalypse that we seem to be blindly heading toward. 

The doom metal is used to paint a horrific picture of a desolate future where our planet has failed us due to our own neglect. It is slow, mournful, and full of haunting melodies. To accentuate the lingering horror of our slow descent into a planet-wise ecological meltdown, the doom metal is pensive as opposed to predatory. The heaviness has been toned down in order to ramp up its lingering pensive atmosphere. A Startlingly evocative album.

Unimaginatively titled second solo album from the Slipknot screamer. Unlike the first CMF (where he steered away from any material that sounded like either slipknot or, his other act, Stone Sour) there is a lot here that is reminiscent of the type of stuff he does in his day job. He feels much more confident in his solo pursuits and therefore much more able to provide a fittingly varied smorgasbord of delicacies. 

There is a real mix of ferment aggression and fragile vulnerability. Now that he has established himself as a solo performer, he seems much more comfortable in both showing us the real him and also in going into Slipknot territory. A highly eclectic record that shows again what an incredibly talented and versatile performer Corey is. 

Don’t think I haven’t appreciated how much black metal I had put into this year’s list. It’s either indicative of my current musical tastes or of where the current black metal scene is, or both. Norwegians Mork only emerged last decade but they already feel like mainstays of that country’s constantly burgeoning black metal scene. 

They label themselves as true Norwegian black metal and Dypet sticks pretty close to that ice-cold template that was forged in the early 90s by Mayhem, Emperor, etc. 

Whilst still malevolently evil, there is a raw beauty to this album. It seems to match the harsh rugged landscapes of Norway by being simultaneously treacherous and also oddly attractive. In the midst of the harshness there is deep contemplation to be found and in all this is an incredibly balanced record that painstakingly matches its corrosive with its introspection.

Badly done traditional metal is an irksome and irritating beast. On the other hand, well done traditional metal is life-affirming and a veritable chicken soup for the soul. This is very much the latter. 

There is something wonderfully heartening about the way Tailgunner have balanced reverence with revolution. They are exquisitely aware that they are meddling in a style that has been done to death. They don’t try to reinvent but instead, they breathe new life into this potentially quite tired musical form. 

They bring an exuberance and self-awareness that many purveyors overlook. Good metal works when the perpetrators are fully aware of the absurdities and stupidities of the genre. This is a veritable love letter to every landmark trad metal release. It is aware of the frailties and inadequacies of the genre but also is steadfastly aware of the reasons why we love it. A bombastic masterclass in how you do reinvention.

I pride myself that this list is always full of bemusing entries that are designed to raise your collective musical eyebrows. This is very much one of those curveball entries. Those with a long memory will recall that pre-matrix Keanu Reeves played with being a would be rockstar in the early 90s. His band, Dogstar, are probably most infamous for getting pelted with fruit at Glastonbury 1999 because they were, if I’m honest, pretty shit. 

Plagued by musical indifference and a shared realisation that they weren’t very good at this thing, Dogstar split in 2002. And that should be it. But this is Keanu Reeves, a man who has had more reinventions than the iPhone. During the early days of the pandemic, the three erstwhile members of Dogstar found themselves quarantining in close proximity. To pass the time they started jamming together and “Somewhere Between the Power Lines and Palm Trees” was born. 

This is the best U2 album that U2 never made and it is blindingly obvious that somewhere in the last two decades Keanu, Robert Mailhouse and Bret Domrose have all managed to find the time to become pretty decent musicians. There is an uplifting introspection to the album, and I found myself really enjoying its laid-back anthemic qualities. Conclusive proof that it might take time but there is nothing that Keanu Reeves can’t do well.

The ninth album from the madcap Swedish melodic death metallers. It continues their fine run of form and manages to capture their inflated level of kinetic energy quite convincingly. There is an obvious continued slide towards commerciality but that doesn’t stop them from writing some pretty frantic metal tracks. 

I was an early adopter when it comes to Prong. It was a schoolmate Greg Jackson (hello Greg if you’re reading this, or if you know a Greg Jackson who went to Wimbledon College and then Westminster High School in the late 80s/early 90s pass on my regards) who implored me to purchase the raw majesty of the debut record, Force Fed. We saw them at the late lamented Harlesden Mean Fiddler, and they were a feeding frenzy of unconnected notes, a million miles away from the house-trained metal that I was used to.

I’ve kept a watching brief over their subsequent career, every now and again diving into their rapidly evolving sound. “State of Emergency” is album number 13, and they have long since become a project of main man Tommy Victor and whoever he can get to surround him this week. I was pleasantly surprised by the musical depth at play within this album. Its tempo is distinctively thrash orientated but actually it has a lot more weight to it than that. 

Alongside the driving riffs, there is a groove to the delivery that feels almost primal. The songwriting comes across as measured and, to some degrees, experimental as if they are not content with simply staying in one Musical Lane. Overall, I found my interest and imagination much more engaged than it has been with any Prong album for the last 20 years.

Interestingly our third proper death metal album on the list comes from yet another vintage crew still making incredibly vibrant and vitriolic records. Autopsy was at the heart of death metal's initial surge into the public consciousness in the late 80s. Like their peers, they made ugly music full of short razor-sharp riffs and gore-filled lyrics. 

Interestingly 35 years later nothing has changed. “Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts” majors on repulsion. The vocals are still guttural and obsessed with mutilation. The guitars still have a buzzsaw mentality and the drums still blast away with a warped military tempo. Three-quarters of the band remain from the classic line-up and it is obvious that they have quite happily grown up disgracefully. 

Time has not mellowed Autopsy, all this is done is make them slightly better musicians. They still revel in being unpleasant and in making unpleasant music. “Ashes, Organs, Blood and Crypts” is a joy because of its simplicity. It understands that the wonder of death metal was its organic minimalism and therefore it doesn’t change a thing. A wonderfully deranged album fuelled by utter intensity. 

I usually hate this stuff. I balk at anything released this century that has the audacity to call this alternative rock. It’s usually a catchall for self-reflective indie nonsense that is a little too shouty to use the i word but is far too pristine or self-absorbed to go anywhere near metal. 

However, and there is a massive however in play here for this album to get this far up my countdown, I found this record to be deeply affecting. There is a fragility and honesty at play here that I was not expecting. Yes, it’s still got that earnest shoutiness that makes you feel like you’re being hit on the head with a rolled-up Guardian, but it is done with such emotive power that you find yourself really being drawn into the storylines within the songs.

I cared about the tales I was being told. I cared about their protagonists, and I cared about the situations that they were in. “Recovery” is not pretty but it has a raw emotionality that speaks from the heart. It is painfully genuine and that is beauty. There is truth being told here that very few records have the emotional intelligence to go anywhere near. Probably one of my biggest surprises of the year.

The shortest album on this year’s list by a country mile. At 16 minutes it’s probably the shortest album to ever feature in one of my lists. There are other entries that are still in the early throes of their first track in the time it takes for this record to dispense with all 10 of its constituent parts. There are plenty of EPs released this year double or even triple the length that I refused to give entry to because “the list is for full-length records only”.  

I love this record though because it reminds me of why I love punk. It felt cleansing to listen to a band play proper in your face, narcissistic, corrosive punk. It reminded me of discovering Fugazi all those years ago. It reminded me of why punk is such a life force and such a necessary disruptive influence.

“Only Constant” reclaims punk from all those poses and Fairweather types who believe that Green Day, Offspring and Blink blooming 182 are in any way punk. It drags it back from ill fitting stadiums to its spiritual home of dingy New York clubs.

As you would expect from its fleeting duration this is an incredibly minimal album that only uses the scant resources necessary to put across his message. Short, sharp and straight to the point it is taking me longer to write about it than it took to listen to.

I’ve described their previous album as being Andrew Eldritch from the sisters fronting The Cult. Nothing much has changed and this similia is still completely valid. As they say if it isn’t broke don’t fix it, as this mega alt 80s mash-up works brilliantly. This is Goth as I wanted it to sound in my teenager head. It’s big, epic and utterly bombastic. Yes, there isn’t anything particularly revolutionary going on but when you’ve got anthems this anthemic and choruses this colossal it doesn’t really matter.